Thornhills in Ghana - Letter 6

Hi All,

We have had a wonderful, exciting week since we last wrote. Last Satuday we went to a funeral in Anum north of Akropong near Lake Volta. The funeral was for the great aunt of Vera, who is our host teacher. We went by hired taxi for which we paid less than $20 for the full day. The lady that died was from a royal family so the king for the region was in attendance--it was his aunt, also. There were two other kings from other regions to show respect.

When we arrived we went to the home where the body was laid out in a sitting room. She was dressed in a white wedding dress, including a veil. Her bed was draped in white lace as well as the walls and windows. Several of her elderly female relatives were sitting around the room. It was like a wake. She has been dead since last September and kept in "cold storage". Outside of the house in the compound there were tents set up and plastic chairs for greeters. The body was put into a hand-made wood coffin and carried into the center of town. Her body was placed on a table in the middle of the street. Both sides of the street were lined with rows of plastic chairs covered by tents. There were at least 300 people. At one end of the street were loud speakers blasting music--but they were also used for the service.

The three kings sat in the front row across from the coffin. (We were in the 3rd row about five seats away.) After we gathered a procession of choir, altar boys, and an Anglican Priest came out from a side street. The choir had the same cap and gown dress as we have described at the Roman Catholic Church. The service lasted about an hour and a half with some eulogies given in English as well as Twi. People were milling about. We did not see any children.

Two pick up trucks were backed into the street. The coffin was placed in the back of one with the priest and altar boys. The choir got into the back of the other. They are the only ones that went to the burial grounds. Normally, everyone would go but for this funeral the burial ground was too far away for walking. The kings were presented with three cases of soda/beer by three women dressed alike. The kings then left with their entourage including someone to hold an umbrella over their heads. They went to a courtyard behind a house near where we were sitting. Vera told us that they do not eat or drink in public.

After about five minutes we were invited to join them. We were told that they wanted to talk to us. We were given our choice of drinks and were able to have a brief greeting with them since they wanted to find out who we were and why we were there. They thanked us for teaching in Ghana. (The king of that region is also a businessman in Accra because modern kings don't make very much money.) The king is over the Chiefs in several villages and it is his job to keep the peace. Everybody was dressed in black, brown or red (royal family only) or a combination. The women had headscarves and flowing dresses. Most of the men had black togas. Harry wore stunning black pants and dark blue shirt--the closest he could get. Joan had a black jumper, black shell, and brown sandels. We passed Vera's inspection before we left as we did not want to offend anybody. After they finished the drinks, the kings and we all went back to the street where the loud music was playing and people were dancing. We were disappointed that there were no drums. We walked to the home of another relative of Vera's where a cousin had died that week. He was a teacher and had a heart attack. That funeral will be the end of March. We left town about 12:30.

The funeral activities will continue through Sunday with food, drink, and dancing. It is very festive. On the way back we stopped at the Akoshombo dam on the Volta River. The dam creates Lake Volta which used to be the largest man-made lake in the world. We had to hire a guide and driver to take us to the dam site since regular taxis are not allowed. The tour took about an hour and was very interesting--especially where we have been to the Yangtze Dam site in China. We also stopped at a large outdoor market which specialized in bead making and some kente cloth. We had a great day!

On Sunday we went to Mass and had a new very young priest. Mass lasted over two hours with announcements in Twi taking up about 45 minutes of that. We were invited to the Ash Wednesday liturgy at 7 pm. In the afternoon we decided to take a walk and see more of Akropong. We walked to the far end of town where there is a hotel--nice hotel. There we were caught in a deluge of rain for about an hour. We sat on the hotel veranda and watched the storm pass by. The receptionist in the hotel could not understand why we would want to sit outside and watch the storm and kept inviting us inside.

We found out this week that we have to make up final exams which will be given in about three weeks. The students will have exams one week and then four days of classes ending April 1 (Thursday). They then go on break until after Easter when they start a new term. The students are busy practicing marching for March 6--next Saturday--Ghana's Independence Day. Every day at lunch at about 1:30--in the blazing heat--they march. Two of the teachers keep their spirits up holding a cane. They do this until about 2:05 at which time they go to their hot classroom and are ready to learn! They are dripping sweat and are thirsty. Water may or may not be available to them. It amazes us that they don't rebell. The classroom smells wonderful with 40 bodies in Form 1 and 30 bodies in Form 2 in a room about half the size of an American classroom. By the way, the primary students have to do the same thing. When Joan inquired about the purpose of this she was told that "It's always been done this way and kids do it in the Senior Secondary School too".

There will only be one more week of this as it does end March 6 when they will compete with several other schools in the region at the Presbyterian Teacher Training College soccer field. This is big stuff in Akropong for Independence Day--we don't know if teachers are suppose to march on the 6th or not. They don't usually tell us anything until the very last minute. We were told we were going to have this Friday and Monday off as a mid-term break. Last Friday we were told that the break was cancelled. Harry swapped his Friday class and we took the break anyway. We will be back for classes on Monday.

We used our new books this week and the kids were excited. The books are so much better than what they have been using. Ash Wednesday night we went to church. It was very dark and we thought that we had misunderstood. At 7 pm there were four of us there sitting on the steps. Two spoke English and two spoke Twi--so, we laid down and looked down at the beautiful night sky. The stars were glorious and very bright. We saw Orions Belt but could not see the Southern Cross, which we should be able to see from here. About 7:15 somebody came and unlocked the church. About 7:30 someone started the Rosary. About 7:50 we had a service without a priest. We found out that the man that conducted the service is the father of one of the other teachers at our school. The service ended about 9:00.

On Thursday we left school after our classes ended at 1:10. We came home, got our bags and took a tro-tro to Koforidua. In Koforidua we got a small bus (with 38 people) heading to Kumasi--about a 3 hour trip. We hit rain several times and alot of road construction. We got out in Ejisu, about 25 miles from Kumasi where we spent the night. We stayed in the Ejisu Hotel--no electricity or running water for about $4. It started raining very hard so we did not go out to eat and depended on some cookies, ground nuts, and chocolate--and of course our bottled water for dinner. This morning we visited two traditional fetish houses. They are both in disrepair. We tried to visit the Yaa Asantewaa Museum but it was closed. She was the leader of the Ashanti who fought the British in 1900-01. She was captured and sent into exile but is considered a heroine.

We got to Kumasi about noon. Checked into a hotel--no running water but electricity! We are right in the middle of town which is very convient. We had lunch at Vic Baboo's Cafe across the street from the hotel and a hangout for westerners as they have American and European food. We each had a "hamburger" and a "milkshake". We met a nice Dutch girl who is medical assistant in a village north of here. She has just been quite ill and been in a hospital in Accra--not a good scene. She had malaria and developed a kidney infection. She became delirious. She had no one to help her in the hospital. She said the hospital conditions were terrible--no running water--people dying all around. This was in a teaching hospital and she thought that this would be better than others but it wasn't. She was in Ghana last year for three months and she is here for five months this time. This afternoon we visited the Ashanti Culture Center. It is one of the best museums that we have been to in the country. In addition to the museum, the grounds have several craft shops where the people are making the items. They also have a big library. We ended our tour by going to a local hospital where there is a sword in the ground that can't be removed. If it is removed it will be the end of the Ashanti kingdom. Several have tried and failed. Does this sound like Camelot? It really isn't.

Again--Happy Birthday Margaret--just think four years from now and you will be able to drink. For others--Margaret's birthday is the 29th. Jim and Shelly--we hope that you are settled in your new home. We wish you much happiness and blessing!

For those that wanted to send money. Ross has power of attorney so a check can be made out to either us or to him. Again, his address is:

RossThornhill,
19 Lucille Lane,
Ballston Lake,
NY 12019.

We will try to come back tomorrow and answer more question.

Love, Prayers, and Namaste,

Joan and Harry